Avesthagen plans to expand operations in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Avesthagen, the Bangalore-based life sciences company, has big plans for Hyderabad with expansion and new initiatives.

The company is in the process of strengthening its research, scale up of production facilities and seed business in Hyderabad, according to Dr Villoo Morawala Patell, its Chairperson and Managing Director.

Avesthagen is establishing its Central Laboratory, with facilities for undertaking bio-safety studies for genetically modified (GM) crops at the SP Biotech Park on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

The bio-safety facility is important as the company is launching its ‘Strip trials’, for the GM Japonica rice, in the ensuing kharif season. The drought and salinity tolerant variety had got clearance from the Genetic Evaluation and Assessment Committee (GEAC), under the Union Ministry of Environment.

The GEAC had also cleared trials for growing tomatoes on large scale in greenhouses based on the company’s technology, said Dr Seetharam Annadana, VP-Commercial (seeds & traits) of the company.

Avesthagen has so far invested between Rs 30-40 crore in Hyderabad operations. It has a nine-acre campus in the SP Biotech Park. The company is also scaling up its production capacity in its Good Earth factory, as well as Atash Seeds, its seed business arm, Dr Villoo Patell said.

Atash Seeds has tied up with the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), here to work on hybrid pigeonpea (redgram) and pearl millet (bajra).